Erectopus 4613403 213160856 2008-05-18T01:46:51Z PipepBot 4984067 robot Adding: [[pl:Erektopus]] {{taxobox | name=Erectopus | | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Reptile|Sauropsida]] | superordo = [[Dinosaur]]ia | ordo = [[Saurischia]] | subordo = [[Theropoda]] | infraordo = [[Carnosauria]] | superfamilia = [[Allosauroidea]] | genus = '''''Erectopus''''' | species = '''''E. superbus''''' | binomial = ''Erectopus superbus'' | binomial_authority = [[Friedrich von Huene|Heune]], [[1932]] }} '''''Erectopus''''' is an [[allosauroid]] [[theropod]] from the [[Lower Cretaceous]] of [[France]]. The material comprising the type series was discovered in the late [[19th Century]] from the Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthèive (''Mammilatum'' Zone; lower [[Albian]]) at Louppy-le-Château in eastern France, which have also produced remains of [[plesiosaur]]s, [[ichthyosaur]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. The bones originally resided in the private collections of Louis Pierson and were first described by H. E. Sauvage in [[1882]]. It was Sauvage who made them the basis for a new [[taxon]], ''[[Megalosaurus]] superbus.'' In [[1932]], the material was redescribed by [[Friedrich von Huene]] (1875-1969), who argued that it could not be included within the [[genus]] ''Megalosaurus'' and placed the Pierson theropod in a second new taxon, ''Erectopus sauvagei.'' Subsequently, the Pierson collection was dispersed after the death of its owner and the [[holotype]] was long believed lost to science. However, casts of some of the bones have been located in the [[Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle]] (MNHN, [[Paris]]), and the anterior part of a left [[maxilla]], described by Sauvage in 1882, was found through a Parisian fossil dealer in the late [[20th Century]] and purchased by Christian de Muison, a [[paleontologist]] at the MNHN. The casts and the incomplete maxilla allowed for a reevaluation of ''Erectopus'' (Allain, [[2005]]), which determined that the correct [[taxonomic]] name for the material is ''E. superbus''. The recovered maxilla has been designated a [[lectotype]], and the casts of Pierson's specimen has become the plastotype for the taxon. The plastotype includes a partial right manus, the left [[femur]], left [[calcaneum]], the [[proximal]] and [[distal]] halves of the right [[tibia]], and right [[metatarsal]] II. The etymology of ''Erectopus'' is based on the structure of the foot ([[Latin]] ''erectus'' = "upright" + [[Greek language|Greek]] ''pous'' = "foot"). Based on the [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] of the [[distal]] end of the tibia and the inferred morphology of the [[talus bone|astragalus]], Allain (2005, p. 83) placed ''Erectopus superbus'' within the [[Allosauroidea]] and regarded it as [[carnosaur]]ian. It is the third youngest carnosaur known from the [[Europe]]an Lower Cretaceous, after the "Montmirat theropod" (Valangian) of southern France and ''[[Neovenator]] salerii'' ([[Barremian]]) from the [[Isle of Wight]]. ==Diagnosis== Allain (2005 pp. 75-76) diagnoses ''Erectopus superbus'' as follows: "Rounded anterior ramus of maxilla; slender neck of femur; posterior curvature of proximal half of femur; anterodorsal edge of calcaneum dorsally projected; calcaneum twice as long as deep vertically; posteromedial process of for tibia on articular surface of astragalus; length of second metatarsal equal to half the length of femur; lateral margin of proximal end of second metatarsal regularly concave." ==References== *Allain, R. 2005. The enigmatic theropod dinosaur ''Erectopus superbus'' (Sauvage, 1882) from the Lower Albian of Louppy-le-Château (Meuse, France). in Carpenter, K. 2005. ''The Carnivorous Dinosaurs'', Indiana University Press: 72-86. *Huene, F. 1926. The carnivorous Saurischia in the Jura and Cretaceous formations, principally in Europe. ''Revista del Museo de la Plata'' 29: 35-167. *Huene, F. 1932. Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. ''Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie'', ser. 1: 1-361. *Sauvage, H. E. 1882. Recherches sur les reptiles trouvés dans le Gault de l'est du Bassin de Paris. ''Mémoires de la Société géologique de France 4: 439-442. {{portalpar|Dinosaurs}} [[Category:Carnosaurs]] [[Category:Dinosaurs of Europe]] [[Category:Cretaceous dinosaurs]] [[es:Erectopus]] [[fr:Erectopus]] [[it:Erectopus superbus]] [[pl:Erektopus]] [[zh:挺足龙]]